Blog #5

Based on the podcast about Web 2.0 in classrooms, and my experience in this class so far, I think that blogs and Twitter would be the most useful tools. This opens up entirely new and creative opportunities for expression and communication. Blogs are a fun and modern way for students to express their thoughts colloquially and Twitter is a great way for students to communicate about class in a way that almost doesn't even feel like school to them because of the social aspects of it. It also encourages personal development and growth for the students in terms of their individual voices and expression. These resources would also be a great way for the teacher to communicate to the students officially. That being said, I think wikis would be the least useful simply because I don't think they're as fast, simply, and user-friendly of an option as things like Twitter and blogs. As a teacher, I would definitely utilize Prezi (http://www.prezi.com). This is something I was a little resistant to at first when I encountered it in high school, but the more I've played around with it the more I realize its potential for fun and innovative presentations. It's a great way to organize material and to have it presented in a way that maintains attention. Since it is so visually appealing, I feel that students would be more engaged and would be less likely to get distracted by other things. The alternative, PowerPoint, is something I am obviously more well versed in, but I feel that it comparatively has so many limitations and that using Prezi would be a switch that would benefit my classroom overall by making it easy to incorporate media, organize my information in an aesthetically pleasing way, and more. I feel that gamification would be the most interesting and successful advancement. This is because I feel like it would be the most engaging with students and it would make school something more entertaining for them. I know that personally, I was more motivated with things like the Oregon Trail game or typing games in school than workbooks (and I definitely remember the things I learned in the former as well). I think because of this it would be the most successful advancement.